[Advaita-l] Is difference known by perception?

Srinath Vedagarbha svedagarbha at gmail.com
Mon May 6 19:53:22 EDT 2019


On Mon, May 6, 2019 at 2:35 AM Venkatraghavan S via Advaita-l <
advaita-l at lists.advaita-vedanta.org> wrote:

>
> Re your point on role of Shruti in dvaita, both dvaita and advaita agree
> that Shruti reveals what pratyaksha does not / cannot reveal.
>
> Similar to our प्रत्यक्षेण अनुमित्या वा यस्तूपायो न बुध्यते। एनं विन्दति
> वेदेन तस्मात् वेदस्य वेदता।
>
> Where we differ is that where pratyaksha and Shruti are in conflict, they
> hold that pratyaksha will prevail.
>
>
The difference does not just that -- advaita's paxa is that shruti pramANa
(any pramANa for that matter) is itself in the realm of avidya and chooses
Shruti selectively, mislabeling some
as "atatvaavedaka" and "anuvaadaka." etc. On the other hand, Dvaita vAdins
accepts entire sprecturm of vEdic texts as conveying ultimate reality as
per Shruti's own saying 'sarvE vEdA yatpadamAmananti ......tadviShNOH
paramam padam'. There is no artificial division of karama kAnDa and jnyAna
kAnDa, tavavEdaka & attavavEdaka etc.

Logic is not a primary tool for Tatvavaada; Madhva quotes Vyaasa as saying
"praabalyam aagamasya eva," and accepts this dictum fully; Scripture is the
strongest of the pramaanas. when it comes to atIndritya tatva vivhAra.
However, logic does have an important supporting role, in showing
self-contradiction in other possible hypotheses, etc. Logic cannot be be
discarded otherwise why MS and others relay on nyAya?

When shruti is denying realizing Brahman via any other than Shruti "*nendriyANi
nAnumAnaM vedA hyevainaM vedayanti tasmAdAhuH vedAH"  Shankara in totally
opposite stand says "**advaitaM kim AgamamAtrENa pratipattavyam AhOsvit
tarkENApi **ityata aha - SakyatE tarkEnApi  j~nAtuM;
tatkathamityadvaita- **prakaraNam
ArabhyatE...." (**Sankara's introductory commentary **to Chapter 3 advaita
prakaraNa of kaarika)*

Swami NikhilAnanda's translation -- Now it is asked whether nonduality can
be established only by scriptural evidence or whether it can be proved by
reasoning as well.
It is said in reply that it is possible to establish nonduality by
reasoning as well. How is it possible? This is shown in this chapter of
Advaita.

There are many instance to show how the non-duality proponent opposed to
very vEdic stand, but too little time to mention here.

/sv


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